At just the age of 25, Leicester City striker Patson Daka is among the top ten all-time scorers for Zambia, sitting seventh in the ranking, having netted 21 goals in his last 45 appearances.
When he scored his 20th goal against Tanzania during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Daka became the first player in history to score in all of CAF’s competitions, U-17, U-20, U-23, and the senior AFCON.
He also became the fourth-fastest player to achieve that tally in just 43 appearances.
The record for the quickest player to score 20 goals for the Zambian national team belongs to Godfrey ‘Ucar’ Chitalu. The Kabwe Warriors FC legend only needed 20 appearances to notch his 20th international goal, which he scored in Zambia’s 3-0 win over Malawi in 1971.
Chitalu went on to become the continent’s all-time top scorer with 79 goals in 111 caps.
| RANK | NAME | GOALS | CAPS | RATIO |
| 1. | Godfrey Chitalu | 79 | 111 | 0.71 |
| 2. | Alex Chola | 43 | 102 | 0.42 |
| 3. | Kalushya Bwalya | 39 | 87 | 0.45 |
| 4. | Bernard Chanda | 29 | 68 | 0.43 |
| 5. | Christopher Katongo | 23 | 103 | 0.22 |
| 6. | Collins Mbesuma | 22 | 65 | 0.34 |
| 7. | Patson Daka | 21 | 45 | 0.46 |
| 8. | Denis Lota | 21 | 78 | 0.27 |
| 9. | Kenneth Malitoli | 19 | 80 | 0.24 |
| 10. | James Chamanga | 17 | 63 | 0.27 |
With time on his side, Daka has continued to chase the records in the Chipolopolo shirt. He is now the current team’s leading scorer and is on the verge of surpassing legends Christopher Katongo and Collins Mbesuma on the all-time top scorer list for Zambia.
If he scores three goals in the two matches against Morocco this Friday and Tanzania next Tuesday in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, he will be Zambia’s fifth-highest scorer of all time.
“I don’t see any value” – Daka
When asked about the prospect of breaking records, Daka told BolaNews that it was not his main priority.
“I don’t see any value in that,” he said. “So my focus is always just to help the team. Whether I score, or I don’t score, as long as the team is succeeding, that’s all that matters to me.”
He continued: “With those records, if I’m not helping the team, then it doesn’t really matter to me. So all my focus is always to just help the team.”
Daka, who won the English Championship with Leicester City to gain promotion back to the Premier League after contributing 7 goals and providing 5 assists in 20 appearances, emphasized that his primary goal is to assist the Chipolopolo Boys to succeed, and he would be happy to break records if the team is not winning.
“Well, like I said, I don’t really concentrate much on it,” Daka responded when he was asked by this reporter if the records do motivate him to work hard. “My focus, mostly, is to help the team win games. Once I do that, then those records will be broken. But if I’m not, then, like I said, if, let’s say, I score and we lose, what are the records? You know, it doesn’t really add so much value to me because we’re not succeeding as a team. So if we are succeeding as a team and I’m breaking records, then it’s even better.”
